Weinstein today faces a slew of criminal investigations and possibly jail time. Fired by his company, Weinstein Co., he has become an industry untouchable. And he is not alone. 2017 saw an unprecedented number of household names accused of sexual harassment. Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly and Kevin Spacey are just a few the industry’s stellar players whose careers have apparently been extinguished by allegations of sexual misconduct.

Meanwhile, the #MeToo social media movement had a galvanizing effect around the world. The slogan was coined two decades ago by U.S. civil rights activist, Tarana Burke, to de-stigmatize abuse sufferers.

The scale and speed with which accusations and responses have flooded the public consciousness point to two things: the ingrained and intractable nature of the problem itself; and the emergence of a tipping point – a shift in culture and attitudes that suggest that we might be at a pivotal moment in corporate history.

Discrimination lawsuits rank among the leading crises faced by business leaders in the United States. Of these, sexual harassment allegations pose the single greatest threat to corporate reputation. That was a primary finding of “Diversity Crisis: How Firms Manage Discrimination Lawsuits” – a paper by me and my colleague Lynn Wooten, now Dean at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management Cornell University, in the fall of 2006.

When a firm was accused of discrimination its initial response would be denial. This would, in time, yield to some acceptance of responsibility and then to settlement. It took them much longer to accept responsibility. In fact, the companies in the study were actually more prone to move to a retaliatory stance directed not only against the legal process but also oftentimes against the plaintiffs themselves. While sexual harassment disputes were not the most frequent, they nonetheless took a disproportionately longer time to settle than any other type of claim.

Race and sex-based allegations – the most common discrimination cases – were typically resolved between 33 and 36 months. Sexual harassment suits, however, were taking an average of 49 months – more than one year longer – to reach a settlement.

In other words, companies accused of sexual harassment were spending just over four years, on average, to settle with plaintiffs. Four years of denials, rebuttals, trenchant negotiations – and, inevitably, spiraling costs to the firm.

The longer a discrimination case took to resolve, the longer it remained in the public domain. And the longer it was exposed to scrutiny – and negative publicity – from the press and from interested parties. Sexual harassment allegations mobilize stronger feelings, more antagonistic engagement with activist groups and plaintiffs and played out longer in the public arena, thus, sparking increased public interest and driving greater sensationalism of the cases.

Undoubtedly the most significant of these is the scandal that has engulfed Weinstein. TheNew York Times published an exposé in October 2017 alleging that Weinstein had reached at least eight legal settlements over sexual harassment dating back over three decades. The case rocked Hollywood, not least because of the scale of the accusations against the producer and the celebrity profile of those making the allegations.

Within days of the report going to print, Weinstein, whose credits included a slew of Oscar-winning movies, was fired by the board of his company, Weinstein Co. as it emerged that his allegedly inappropriate conduct with women was an “open secret” in the industry.

A week later, on October 11, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced it had suspended Weinstein’s membership. Three days later, the organization behind the Oscars voted to expel him.

As the allegations continued to stack up against the mogul, key figures and politicians were quick to sever their ties – among these, a number of senior members of the Democratic Party to whom Weinstein had been a noted campaign donor.

On October 30, the Producers Guild of America banned Weinstein for life. In less than 25 days, the downfall of one of Hollywood’s most powerful figures was complete.

Consider again Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, Louie C.K., Kevin Spacey and Bill O’Reilly. In 2017 a new paradigm emerged: no career was too big to topple. Lauer, Rose, Cosby, O’Reilly and Spacy have gone from media darlings to industry pariahs.

Employers have been fast to fire, replace and sever ties with them. What Hollywood seems to have understood is what we warned of in 2006. In their haste to manage the contagion, studios and networks have grasped that the slur of sexual harassment has the capacity to damage reputation unlike any other.

In 2018 there is a sense that we may have arrived at a tipping point in terms of sexual abuse and harassment. To understand why this is happening now is first to understand the scale and the endemic nature of the problem itself. And this is becoming increasingly clear as the volume of people speaking up continues to grow.

Public awareness of the issue is, of course, nothing new.

Our research established sexual misconduct cases had enormous potential to mobilize wide-spread stakeholder activism in support of victims, and that these groups were prepared to engage aggressively with organizations. What that research could not have anticipated was that in 2018 the power of social media could viralize this kind of activity into a global phenomenon.

Milano, a Weinstein accuser, used the #MeToo hashtag on Twitter to encourage other women (and men) to share their experience of sexual violence. Within 24 hours the message had reached 500,000 people.

Thus, a beat change in attitudes and tolerance that began in Hollywood is spreading to other sectors as we go further into 2018. It seems 2017 will go down as a landmark year in the fight against sexual discrimination and harassment in the workplace. It has ushered in a new era of awareness and activism that represents a pivotal moment.

And there is an opportunity here for business leaders to be part of this change; to intensify focus instead of turning a blind eye. To lead the solution instead of dealing with damage control.

The entertainment sector has been a lightning rod for sexual harassment, but all sectors are vulnerable to this issue in today’s global economy where diversity is a key business asset.

Armed with these insights, business leaders today can make a choice: to wait to be called out and suffer the consequences. Or to be proactive in tackling sexual misconduct within their organizations.

Leaders need to ensure that they are doing what it takes to:

Prevent harassment from taking place

Create a culture where harassment cannot thrive

Resolve issues effectively when they do occur

There are a number of significant, effective and concrete measures that firms that can take to be proactive, including:

Enacting and comprehensive anti-harassment policies

Ensuring policies are communicated and are accessible to all employees

Clearly defining what harassment means

Clearly define complaints, processes and procedures

Define investigation procedures that defend the rights of the accuser and the accused

A statement of zero tolerance in cases of retaliation against accusers

Commitment to investigating all complaints fairly and transparently

For business leaders and decision-makers there is a clear imperative.

It is incumbent on leaders to set the tone at the top: to model transparency and integrity, while making the commitment to abide by policies and strategies to be implemented at every level of their organization.

The Graduate Management Admission Council, a non-profit association of leading global business schools, has named Erika James, John H. Harland dean of Goizueta Business School to its board.

Bill Boulding, dean of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, will chair the board, and Peter Johnson, assistant dean, full-time MBA Program and admissions, Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley will also be joining the board. The term for the board chairperson is two years, four years for board members. The terms for the new board directors begin on July 1, 2018; the chair position also takes effect as of July 1.

Erika James became the John H. Harland dean of Goizueta Business School at Emory University in July 2014. A published researcher and award-winning educator with a passion for consulting and speaking, she places an emphasis on what higher education can do to be of service to industry. James is committed to advancing GMAC’s mission with a keen interest in providing solutions for schools and candidates to discover and evaluate one another. James believes the success of a student’s business education experience depends heavily on finding the right school for them and looks forward to working on the board to further this work. Under James’ leadership, Goizueta remains one of the top business schools in the nation with an upward trajectory in student career success and faculty thought leadership. As an educator, James has been instrumental in starting various Executive Education programs, including the Women’s Leadership program at Darden Graduate School of Business. James is committed to establishing an equal playing field across gender and race and, in 2014, was honored by the National Diversity Council.

“I’m thrilled to join the GMAC board of directors,” James said. “Business, as a field and idea, can do so much more to advance society. GMAC is in the perfect position to influence the future of business education for good and I’m eager to have a role in shaping policy and public opinion with so many great leaders.”

The historic Wimbish House, affectionately known as the “Old Lady of Peachtree”, where fair ladies of Atlanta women’s clubs traditionally gathered in ornate Victorian bonnets, ribbons, flowers, feathers and jewels was shimmering with women sizzling in silk saris and tailored suits, along with men who serve as their ambassadors, on the evening of May 31, 2018. The saris and suits gathered together to celebrate the 6th year anniversary of the charity ‘Saris To Suits’. The charity was founded by in 2012 in Sarasota, Florida by Pratibha (Patti) Tripathi, who holds the distinction of being the first female reporter/anchor of Indian origin for the CNN News Group and reporter for CBS-Atlanta news. She is also the founder of TriPath Media.

Proper exposure to international business requires multiple lenses. Yet one resource sometimes overlooked is the international elements across the university. Goizueta’s Dean Erika James, with an eye toward collaboration, has challenged the school to create more opportunities to prepare for international immersion and partner across campus.

To the Goizueta Business School community — and beyond:

Business, done right can be a catalyst for so much good. So, as we celebrate 100 years of business education at Emory University, I thought it important to honor the spirit of change that pushes us forward by recognizing some of the many people who make Goizueta great. On GoizuetaBeyond.com, you will find 100 profiles of faculty, staff, students and alumni representing 100 years of excellence.

They are our inspiration, and inspiration creates meaningful, lasting impact to society.

It is not the great idea alone. No, it takes something else. It takes something more. It takes a true devotion to “go beyond” the status quo.

Why?

Because while the discovery of the light bulb held the power to change the world, business put it into homes. While new startups increase jobs, spur innovation and drive production, business provides the loan for growth. And as the healthcare industry continues to treat patients, business can help improve efficiency.

On this site, you will also find a series of business principles designed to foster integrity and pay homage to our namesake, Roberto C. Goizueta, the long-time CEO of The Coca-Cola Company.

We are a small but mighty institution of learning, fully equipped with the talent to influence the world. But we didn’t get here by luck or longevity alone. Countless men and women have gone beyond in their lives and jobs, each contributing something to society. Some of those contributions started in our classrooms. Others are an example of the determination and grit of previous generations that will surely contribute to future success.

#GoizuetaBeyond is more than a hashtag.

For a century Goizueta Business School has espoused the power of principled leadership — living out our ethos of ethics and commitment to lifelong learning. This is our call to business to strive harder for the next out-of-the-box, table-turning solution.

We want to remind everyone the world is at its best when the goals of business and humanity intersect.

About Erika Hayes James

The research and work of Erika James began in the field of Organizational Psychology and now intersects at organizational leadership. Erika teaches, speaks, and consults on various topics within Executive Leadership, and she is a leader in her own right. She was named the new dean of Emory University's Goizueta Business School in May 2014. At Goizueta, James leads an elite group of faculty and staff working with top-25 business programs. MORE